It's been a crazy weekend for me! I worked like a madwoman this week so I could finish up my Project Food Blog video by Thursday evening (which turned out to be the wee hour of Friday morning) so that I could hop on an 8 AM flight to San Francisco.
My purposes were twofold. Dear friends of mine from college were getting married in Silicon Valley this weekend. At the same time, the second annual Foodbuzz Festival was going on in San Francisco! I went to the festival last year and had a fantastic time trying out street foods, artisanal products, attending an olive oil tasting, and brunching at Lulu's.
Though I was bummed I would not be able to attend the whole conference this year, I was happy that the wedding was in Northern California so that I could at least attend the Foodbuzz Festival on Friday night.
The festival started out with Ryan The Girl welcoming all food bloggers to this fantastic event.
Escargot lollipop, braised lamb cheek sandwich, and lobster cappuccino from Spencer On the Go. Carnitas taco from Tacolicious.
The setup was similar, with various food trucks serving all sorts of delicious food. Unlike last year, I did not get to try all the trucks. Perhaps it was because the space was too large, or because I was too busy socializing. 😉
Mission Minis, which were also at the Festival last year, were highly showcased this year! There was this HUGE matrix of cupcakes that spelled out FOODBUZZ. They tasted so good I ate FIVE of them!!! The Food Network was also onsite filming for a future cupcake themed show, though I don't think I got on camera.
We had a fun gift exchange. Every blogger brought food representative of his or her own region. I brought with me 5 different flavored Taza Mexican chocolate discs, which I gave to Mariko of The Little Foodie. Mariko is super sweet and hails from Hawaii! She's also still in the running for Project Food Blog!
I received a cool bag full of treats from Andy at the Wind Attack. Andy is an LA-based food blogger who works by day at the Cartoon Network's show, Robot Chicken (how cool is that??).
Andy went to school in Ann Arbor, Michigan (so close to my hometown), so we had this instant Midwest connection. His gift bag was full of cool stuff like avocado honey, caneles (I was soooo thrilled to see these - check out the recipe on his blog), and chocolate from Zingerman's, one of his favorite stores.
I reconnected with with some old friends, such as Andrea of High Low Food Drink,
Lindsay of Life with Lindsay,
Hong and Kim of Ravenous Couple,
I also met some new friends, such as Liren from Kitchen Confidante (who is still in the Project Food Blog with me!), along with many others, such as Cooking By the Seat of My Pants (who I've seen on twitter a lot!), Kitchen Corners, and The Second Lunch.
Of course, it was great to see some local Boston bloggers, such as Chels and Sues from We Are Not Martha and Elina from Healthy and Sane (who both did so well in Project Food Blog), along with others such as Elizabeth from Free Food Boston and Meghan from Travel Wine and Dine.
And finally, the SWAG BAG, which has a lot of interesting stuff in it. I have yet to try any out, but if I find anything blog-worthy, I'll definitely let you know!
I had a great time, even though it was so short! I am looking forward to checking out new blogs from new bloggers I have met.
Coming up next, the video that I've been working on all last week!
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